"Two years have passed since Tonetraeger (Torsten Mauss/Volker Bertelmann) celebrated an international clubhit with 'Welcome Back, Kotter' in a remix by Michael Mayer and Tobias Thomas. Ok, that's a while ago, but there's now something else to continue Tonetraeger's singles: the first Strawberry Kills production. Now though, they've mixed the colours themselves and the shades of 'Krapplack'-red and 'Zinnober' -- red is not only painted, but splashed. After their much-noted album This Is Not Here, the two Tonetraeger concentrated on solo, or rather parallel projects. Bertelmann, at the same time as producing another EP with Luke Sutherland and Stefan Schneider as Music AM, continued his solo piano project with Hauschka on Karaoke Kalk. Torsten Mauss -- Twig -- recently produced his his third single 'Forced Labor' on the Cologne label Glanzbild after 'Being With You' on Boxer-records and Plastic Raygun (UK)."

"Tonetraeger is made up of two exceptionally sympathico protagonists from the contemporary Düsseldorf music scene, which itself seems to be enjoying a conspicuous resurgence of late. One of them is Volker Bertelmann -- passionate, full-blooded, full-on musician (aka Hauschka and of Music A.M. fame); the other is Torsten Mauss (aka Twig), who adopts a more cold-blooded, measured approach to the job of enrapturing the world with music and design. Together they're unstoppable and, with the new Tonetraeger album, they have quite literally capitalized (upon) pop music`s innate potential: POP WILL AMUSE ITSELF! Driven by the desire for the good-old-wall-of-sound days and using the band format as their model, they enlisted Kreidler's drummer Thomas Klein and Tarwater bassist Bernd Jestram, in whose studio some of the tacks were recorded. This Is Not Here is brimful of ideas and allusions, moods and feelings. Right from the first track on you're forced to ask yourself: are they for real?!? Well, of course they're for real, and yes by the same token they're also playing a game. It's got to be pop: it's hymnal, anthemic, full of pathos, both sublime and heart-warming, and yet in every bar you perceive Tonetraeger audibly winking at you. Witty, humorous music, but music that is always true to itself --ironic, though never derisory or scornful. Sentimental, moving and measured music, which comes across as being both ingenuous and natural. Furthermore, it could be argued that This Is Not Here is Tonetraeger's blueprint for the 'New Emotionality' beyond cliché and beyond all those well-worn simulations."